Monday, July 2, 2007

VIETNAMESE CHICKEN & GRAPEFRUIT SALAD

On June the 23rd, our little group of foodies organized a "Farewell Dinner Party" (report soon to come) in honor of our good friend, the sweet Rai (at "Ugly Fruit") who was going to leave Switzerland in order to go back to Iowa, in the US and start a new life as an artist (very sad, sniff!)...

For this very occasion, I thought that it would be great to mark this very day with one of my favorite Vietnamese specialities, because Rai had not yet had the opportunity to taste my Asian cuisine (last opportunity).

Thankfully, my salad was really successful and I was very happy with it, although nobody was very happy to see Rai go!

This "Vietnamese Chicken & Grapefruit Salad" is a culinary experience in itself, a real treasure of the Vietnamese cuisine (see infos) as it tastes incredible and really, really wonderful! It is a delicate and exquisite dish that has fantastic aromas and is a mindblowing assemblage of holiday-like flavors. With it's crunchiness, gorgeous and uncomparable freshness, it's delicate fragrances, sweet and savoriness, you'll be conquered! This exceptional dish will leave it's mark on you and you'll see that you'll come back asking for more!

This will be a hammer at any party, believe me! It's is a great summer meal that will add an exotic touch to any table...

Method for the marinaded chicken:1. Place the chicken breast in a bowl and add all the ingredients for the marinade.2. Mix well and place in the refrigerator overnight.3. Heat some peanut oil in a pan, add the chicken and cook until browned on both sides and tender.4. Cool the chicken.5. Slice thinly and set aside.Method for the dressing:6. In a jar, combine all the ingredients.7. Shake well and rectify the taste if needed.Method for assembling the salad:8. Take your grapefruits, discard the skins, white pith and seeds.9. Cut between the membranes into segments.10. In a big bowl, combine the sliced chicken, the shallots (red & green), chinese cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, grapefruit segments, lemongrass, mint and coriander.11. Add dressing and mix well.12. Put the salad in a presentation dish.Method for the topping:13. Top salad with the chopped dried shrimps, chopped peanuts and fried onion flakes.14. Sprinkle with the light brown sugar.15. Decorate with some shrimp crackers (sides of the dish).16. Serve.

Remarks:This recipe is best made just before serving.The chicken can also be marinaded only a few hours in advance (minimum 1 hour).If you don't find any Vietnamese mint, then take any other kind of mint that you'll find.Regarding the herbs, you can add more to taste, but it should either not be too overpowering.You can replace the red shallots by the same quantity of green shallots, if desired.You can also use already roasted unsalted peanuts or even salted roasted peanuts for this recipe.To rehydrate the dried shrimps, place them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand for 30 minutes, then drain.

Serving suggestions:Eat this dish accompanied by prawn crackers, served either as an appetizer or as a main course.

Andrea Nguyen at "Viet World Kitchen" from USA has gracefully written an article about my post/recipe (see link)... If you want to learn more about Vietnam and it's culinary traditions, I really recommend you to visit her great blog!